NaNoWriMo Boot Camp Week 3

I had a massive panic when I thought November started next weekend and for some reason I was super behind on Boot Camp, but I'm not, thank god. Although November is only two weeks away - argh!

This week was Week 3 of NaNoWriMo Boot Camp 2014 (you can find all the exercises here). This week involved outlining your novel and planning your subplots.

I actually did the exercises in order this week (how shocking). Although, to be honest, I only did that because it's a little difficult to plan your subplots if you don't know what your main plot is.

Outlining my novel was fairly straightforward. I used the same template as I did for my antagonist's story, and it was made a lot easier by the fact that I already had a rough idea of what was going to happen in my novel (I'd roughly outlined it before and I also drew heavily on the synopsis from last week's exercises).

The most helpful thing about this exercise was that it gave me a lot more detail around my plot. I also now know a bit more about the motivations behind my characters' actions. The other thing I realised, however, is that a main plot definitely doesn't have enough going on to fill an entire novel (you'd be lucky to even make it to 50,000 words, which is technically not even a full novel).

This week also involved planning out subplots. The subplots are what makes the novel, well, actually novel-length (a short story, for example, probably won't have subplots). They also enhance the main plot, develop characters, control the pacing, and generally make your novel more interesting.

I already had a couple of vague ideas about subplots, but this exercise helped me flesh them out. I now know more about my secondary characters and about my main characters motivations, goals, and obstacles. The subplots also all tie nicely into the main plot, which made the second part of the subplots exercise really easy.

This is the point in planning that I get really conflicted. I always start thinking about other plots, or messing around with other vague ideas that just sound more interesting. Too much planning makes me get bored with my novel. But I also know that I won't finish anything without an outline and some basic content beforehand. This level of planning makes me much more likely to finish this novel, even if I feel less interested. The honeymoon period is over. I just have to remember that there are other exciting things about this novel - like exploring the characters and writing the exciting action scenes. I'll also discover other exciting things about this project as I go along.